


From Under the Apricot Tree

by LUTZ (whatsnewlu)



Series: From Under The Apricot Tree [1]
Category: Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice (Video Game), 恋与制作人 | Liàn Yǔ Zhì Zuò Rén (Video Game)
Genre: Casual Sex, Co-workers, Drinking Games, Drunk Sex, Drunkenness, Excessive Drinking, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Overprotective, POV First Person, Possibly Unrequited Love, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2020-05-31 18:19:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19431514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsnewlu/pseuds/LUTZ
Summary: An important case calls Gavin away from Loveland City, and for the time being, he can no longer keep a watchful eye on MC!He recruits a stand-in bodyguard, but the pressure of being responsible for the damsel's safety could prove to be more than young Minor can handle...!Will Gavin regret his decision? Will our MC meet with danger? Or will Minor prove to be a knight in shining armour?[POV: Switches between MC (1st P) and Gavin (3rd P)][Based on game Main Story: Chapter 9, Stage 10]





	1. Higher or Lower

**Author's Note:**

> [kussens to the Thots of MLQC, the thirstiest super-powered 18+ Discord server in all of Loveland, for their consult and encouragement]

“Ouch, haha - wait,” I stumbled out of Pete’s bar, over the doorstep and onto the sidewalk. Even though I almost tripped, I couldn’t stop giggling. I felt hands from behind grab at my elbow and then the top of my arms, obviously several seconds too late, trying to steady me.

“Be careful, boss, don’t die,” Minor warned in a dramatic whisper, trying to suppress his own laughter as he let go of me. 

I sighed wistfully when the night air met my warm face and neck. _This is gonna be a nice walk home,_ I thought, _if I can make it home in one piece, that is._

I had way too much to drink. Somehow, on a Wednesday night, I drank my weight in kamikazes until last call, caught in a death-match of Higher-Lower with Minor. I learned, this night, that Minor is just as much of a hopeless light-weight as I am. I felt so dizzy, I couldn’t stop laughing, and it didn’t help at all that poor Minor looked hilariously white-girl wasted.

“I had,” he groaned, slapping a hand on his forehead, “so much blue stuff.” 

“A-are you gonna be okay?” I tried not to laugh at him. “I’m going, umm... This way! How far do you have to go?”

“Oh, nuh uh,” he squared his shoulders and planted his hands on his hips, “I’m walking you home, it’s way too dangerous at night for a lady!” 

I rolled my eyes but snorted, then linked my arm in his, “I guess it’s not far. Thanks, buddy.” 

He patted my hand on his elbow, deepening his voice for effect, “This way, m’lady.”

We walked arm in arm, and I could tell how loud we were talking and laughing by the echoes that reverberated back to us from the dark shop windows we passed. Our combined efforts were just enough to keep us walking in a straight line down the sidewalk, though we stumbled often. My head swam violently; I had to remind myself more than once to open my eyes. After almost rolling my ankle for the fifth time, I stopped and bent down carefully to slip off my heels. 

“You - You’re not gonna walk barefoot, are you?” Minor said, alarmed. 

“My feet are _killing_ me! Look, the ground is dry anyway - here,” I handed him my shoes so I could grab onto his arm again. He snickered and swung them at his side by their straps. 

“If only I could, like…” he lifted his hand then, raising the shoes at arm’s length in front of him, “Pick you up and fly you home like Superman. _Whoosh!_ Heh, that would be dope.”

The mention of flying hit a certain nerve that was made extra sensitive by the alcohol. I grumbled, “Nah, flying is overrated.”

“It would be cool, though! Maybe I'd even be cooler than G --”

“Enough about him,” I smacked him in the chest playfully, with enough force to make him grunt. “We’re almost there, I’m after this corner.” 

“Aw, sweet, I know where this is! There’s a convenience store on this street! Oh my god, I would _kill_ for some barbeque chips right now.” 

“I have chips at my house, y'know,” I blurted out, without thinking, as soon as I saw the door to my building.

“Wha…?" Minor turned to look at me to make sure he heard that correctly and was startled when I suddenly gasped. 

"We can have a sleepover party!" I was already pulling him toward the door to the lobby, "we can eat snacks and tell secrets and --" 

"Okay, um - whoa - wait," Minor found his nerves suddenly and dug his heels in the sidewalk. "Spending the night at my boss's place? No way, that’s how you get fired,” he began before I tugged on his arm again, peering at him through narrowed eyes. 

“I have spicy barbeque chips.”

He sighed and rocked his head from side to side for a moment, then grinned. “Sleepover!” he sang the words like an excited preteen at a Kiro concert as we clambered into the lobby. 

I steered us to the elevators. For reasons I couldn’t figure out, I was actually really excited to get upstairs. Maybe thoughts of Gavin were still bothering me, and I didn’t want to be alone. Maybe this was just part of the scheme I executed by challenging Minor with a round of shots and a deck of cards. When we ambled into the small space, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and leaned on me. He made a weak sound that could’ve been equal parts groaning and humming. I chuckled at his state when I suddenly picked up a scent that made me feel sad. 

“You smell really good,” I murmured. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

“Heh, really?” His voice broke, I could tell he was running out of steam. When the elevator doors opened, I let go of him to shuffle up to my door, blindly digging my keys out of my purse while my vision blurred in and out of focus. I must have been leaning on the door because as soon as I opened it, I fell forward as it swung away from me way too fast, smacking loudly into the wall inside my apartment. I steadied my sorry self on the door frame and fell into a fit of noiseless snickering. Minor hurried over from down the hall and shushed me dramatically. When he reached out to hold a silencing finger up against my lips, he prodded me awkwardly on my chin and we both burst out laughing. I pulled him inside and he swung the door shut with his elbow. 

I drifted into the kitchen while he fumbled to take off his shoes, shuffling over to the couch in his socks. “So this is the boss’s place! I was kind-of expecting, like,” he gestured broadly with his hands, “a water feature, or a white tiger."

I cackled, throwing a bag of potato chips toward the couch for him to just barely catch. I found another couple bags while reaching on my tiptoes. Carrying both bags in my arms like precious cargo, I tiptoed into the living room. I must have done one too many turns looking around the kitchen, because I was suddenly so dizzy that the whole room tilted and I heard myself go _oof!_ and I was sitting on the floor, beside the coffee table, still holding the chips. Minor threw up his hands like he just saw his favourite sports team score. 

“Stuck that landing, boss lady!” he cheered.

My giggles returned when I realized I wasn't injured and Minor slid off the couch to scoot over to where I was sitting, leaning forward on the heels of his hands to peer at the chips in my arms. “You got barbeque?” 

“D’you want… ‘Regular barbeque’ or ‘Spicy barbeque?’” I squinted closely at the bags, trying to read out the flavours while the text wiggled and blurred.

“Do you even gotta ask?” His laugh was mischievous and giddy as he plucked away the bag and opened it. While he was already crunching I heard my phone _ding_ in the pocket of my jacket. I pulled out my phone and shrugged off my coat, and there was a new SMS. 

It was from Lucien, 10 minutes ago.

> **Everything alright?? I thought I heard**
> 
> **your voice in the hallway just now?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! pls let me know what you think, I love comments!
> 
> [Endless thanks and kussens to the THOTS of MLQC ~18+ Fanworks Discord Community]  
> [guardian Engel & best bae-ta: skieefly]
> 
> _kussens!  
>  ~~ LUTZ_


	2. Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [THOTS of MLQC ~18+ Fanworks Discord Community~]  
> [guardian Engel & best bae-ta: skieefly]

I squinted at my phone and could just barely focus on the words in Lucien’s text message. “We’re... _O...K…_ Send!” I put down my phone and ripped open a bag of chips, stuffing a few in my mouth while I looked around for the TV remote. Just after I crawled away from my phone to peek under the coffee table, I heard my phone ding again. 

“ _Ooooh_ ,” Minor pestered, the sound muffled by a mouthful of chips, “What is your ‘mans’ texting you at this hour?”

“Uhh,” I hesitated, still looking for the remote. I couldn’t explain my relationship with Professor Lucien even with a sober mind, how could I hope to hash it out when I’m this drunk? My face heated up suddenly at that thought, and I crawled back out from behind the couch to see that I had taken just a moment too long to explain myself. Minor was laying on the floor where my phone had been and it was now in his hands, casting a glow on his grinning face as he typed quickly with his thumbs. 

“Hey hey hey, wait, _what’re you_ \--” 

Minor had stopped typing after a few seconds and snickered at the phone screen. I hurried back over to him but before I had the chance to ask what he was doing, his face froze and the grin faded quickly. 

“Um, boss? This... isn’t Gavin, is it?”

My stomach did a backflip and I gasped, “Oh my god, Minor, _what did you do?!_ ” I grabbed for the phone, falling clumsily into Minor’s lap, and read the screen, almost sobered by terror. 

> **[ Everything alright?? I thought I heard your voice in the hallway just now? ]**
> 
> **[ We’re OK ]**
> 
> **[ Are you sure you’re alright? Is someone there with you? ]**
> 
> **[ Ur the sweetest ]**
> 
> **[ UR A STUD AND I LOVE U ]**

There was a row of pink heart emojis underneath the last SMS we sent.

Still laying across Minor’s lap, I made a frustrated sound that came out like a tired sob. Minor drummed his hands lightly on my back, humming a happy tune. Watching the screen anxiously, I saw the ellipses beside his name pop up and then disappear, over and over again. I started slowly typing up a new message.

> **[ I’m so sorry - that was an accident. I had a bit too much to drink tonight, but I’ve got my friend Minor here with me; he helped me home. ]**
> 
> **[ Sorry for the noise, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow! ]**

I felt Minor rub my back tenderly. “You gonna be okay? I’m really sorry if I outed your side-guy or something.”

Just as I touched ‘Send’ on my phone screen, a new message appeared from Lucien.

“Drink some water, and don’t stay up too late.”

I read the message a few times over, sighed, and jammed an elbow behind me into Minor’s ribs; he yelped and groaned in protest. “It’s not even like that, y’know!” I muttered weakly as I rolled off his lap onto the carpeted floor. “That was Professor Lucien!”

“Oh, that’s, uh - awkward,” he mumbled, leaning over to pull a chip bag into his lap, right where I had been a moment ago. “The ‘convo’ looked like you talk to him a lot so I assumed it must’ve been Gavin. So, are you and the Professor…?” He dragged out the last syllable quietly, adding an upward inflection to finish his open-ended question.

“No, we’re just friends,” I explained. “He’s a little bit awkward, socially, so… Like, he doesn’t realize when he’s being _flirty_ … But he’s easy to talk to, and I like going places with him. He knows the best bookstores in town, and he’s always finding ways to help out with the show. I guess we just got close after a while.”

“Do you like him?” he asked quietly. His eyelids fluttered with fatigue just a bit when he looked over at me.

“I think he’s great. He’s so kind,” I prattled quietly, fiddling with the hem of my skirt and staring down at the carpet beside me. “He’s always willing to help even when he’s busy. He’s just… He’s _really_ nice once you get to know him.” My eyes drifted to the door and I wondered if Lucien was awake right now.

“Wow. Sounds complicated,” said Minor quietly, wiping his chip hand on his shirt.

“I know you’re rooting for Gavin, but you don’t have to worry. There’s nothing going on between me and the professor.”

“Well I mean, _you do you._ I’m not judging, I just… Like,” he stammered, gesturing vaguely with his hands, “Gavin told me about - I mean he explained how you --” 

I smirked. “I’m surprised he told you that.” I tried not to let my expression turn grim when I remembered that conversation between Gavin and I.

“Well, before he left he asked me to keep an eye on you.”

I glared at him and lowered my voice threateningly, “ _I knew it._ ”

“Wait wait, whoa!” Minor threw his hands up as a gesture of innocence. “He said he had to work on a case out of town, and I told him I’d take care of you until he got back! I almost got decked in the face for my choice of words,” he rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced, “But he asked for my help, so I couldn’t say no.”

“More like you ‘wouldn’t’ say no.”

“C’mon --”

“Groupie.” I snorted.

He chuckled, “Okay, you know what, I’m not even gonna deny it.”

“I bet you like him more than I do!” I said, laughing.

Minor blinked twice, “So, you _do_ like him?”

Ugh, cornered again. 

“Okay,” I sighed, held up a hand and shifted into a comfortable and upright sitting position, “Here’s the thing. Gavin and I have…” I watch Minor blink again hard, this time for longer. His head leaned to the side just a bit and his eyes were half lidded. 

“Minor, you look so sleepy,” I said with unintentional affection.

“ _Hmm?_ ” His brows perked up a bit. “Nah, I’m good, tell me about Gavin.” He smiled weakly. I got up from the floor and hurried to my room. I grabbed him a quilt and an extra pillow from the closet and hauled them both back to the living room. 

When I got back, 30 seconds later, Minor was laying on the floor. Laying on his side, he had tucked a forearm under his head. His mouth hung open just a bit; he was breathing softly and quietly, with the almost-empty bag of chips held under his other arm like it was his favourite teddy bear.

“Minor,” I whispered, unable to keep from laughing, “If you’re gonna fall asleep, get up on the couch!” I nudged him with the tip of my toes but he didn’t move. I dropped the pillow onto his head. He made the quietest little humming sound but didn’t budge. I unfolded the quilt, threw it over him right there on the carpet, and knelt down to tuck the pillow under his head as best I could. Reaching for my phone, I sat behind him and leaned against his back. It had been a whole hour since Lucien last messaged me; I figured he was probably asleep now. I felt a bit more sober and seeing the text messages on the screen made me feel ashamed all over again. I felt like a mess. 

Maybe Gavin was right to recruit someone to spy on me at Pete’s bar. Maybe Lucien was entirely justified in checking in on me if he happens to hear me in the hallway. Maybe I’ll never be able to look out for myself, and my destiny is to get wine-drunk and wait for a strong man to rescue me from all my problems.

_Ugh, I sound like a weepy drunk,_ I thought bitterly. A big yawn crept up on me suddenly, making my eyes well up and giving me a groggy feeling. Laying slowly onto my back, I could feel the warmth coming off Minor’s back. I turned my head toward him, and suddenly that scent from the elevator greeted me again, tugging at heartstrings that were already so tender and drunk. I closed my eyes immediately when they started to sting. 

Gavin hasn’t texted me since he left.

My weary eyes closed as fast as they’d opened to the bright morning light.

My head was pounding, a huge tension developed behind my eyes, and there was a dull ache in my back. But despite that discomfort, I felt safe and content. My head was resting on someone’s warm shoulder, their arms wrapped around me. I felt the rise and fall of a soft chest against my own, and gentle breath tickling the top of my head. A bouquet of familiar comforts surrounded me as I sighed happily, snuggling instinctively into Gavin’s embrace. 

_You’re here… I can’t believe you’re here._

My protector stirred just then, roused awake by my affection. He pulled his shoulders away from me just enough that he could nudge my forehead with his own, tilting my face up so that my lips could meet his, never relaxing the embrace. 

_I can’t remember him coming over. And he stayed the night?_

I breathlessly expressed my satisfaction with a weak but happy murmur, as his arms tightened around me, one hand pressing my back to bring me closer, and the other lacing clumsy fingers into my hair. His kisses were soft, somehow both lazy and eager.

_He’s passionate today, but clumsy? That’s funny._

The kiss was deepened by him when he pulled me closer, the tip of his nose brushed my face lightly. I couldn’t have refused to part my lips, even if I had wanted to.

_Not even a ‘good morning’ huh? Oh well, I missed you, too._

I didn’t have much room to move, so I settled to rub my hands tenderly up his chest. I dared to let one wander across his ribs. I felt his tongue glide past my lips and into my mouth, timid and affectionate. 

_What is that taste? Salty. Like… Barbeque?_

His body replied fervently to my touch, and he nudged his knee against my legs, gently sliding it between them, willing them to part.

_Oh, wow. Whoa…_

Just when I thought he couldn’t hold us any closer, our hips finally aligned and I couldn’t help gasping quietly.Pressed against my thigh, I felt a warm firmness just below the waist of his pants. I noticed then that he wasn’t wearing his usual slacks, instead the fabric felt soft like the worn cotton of chinos.

_Where were we last night…? Why hasn’t he said anything?_

_Didn’t I come home with…_

My mind began to race. Suddenly I was wide awake, and I opened my eyes. I was filled with dread when I saw short, messy hair that was not mousy brown, but dyed a trendy, silvery violet.

“ _M-Muh…_ ” I stammered between our lips.

“Mmm…?” purred Minor, stroking the back of my neck with his clumsy fingers as he tried to capture my mouth again. 

I gasped for air.

“MINOR?!” I cried when I caught my breadth.

The sudden hike of my voice woke him up instantly. I was already squirming desperately trying to free myself from his arms, when we both clambered to sit upright and spring away from each other. His face was pale as he clapped a hand over his mouth, which hung open in disbelief. 

His other hand darted out to grab a fist full of the quilt we shared, yanking it into his lap to protect his modesty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still with us? Excellent. Thanks for your support!  
> Smooth move, lil Minor...
> 
> _kussens!  
>  ~~ LUTZ_


	3. Pillow Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [renewed thanks to my beautimous bae-ta reader, @skieefly]  
> [and to the thots at "Thots of MLQC" for picking me up when I got knocked down]

Minor whimpered “ _oh my god_ ” into his hands at least ten times before I hastily got to my feet, left the poor guy on the floor, and escaped to my bedroom. I swung the door shut and leaned against it like the scene was going to chase after me and repeat itself. My face burned so hot and my headache thickened, making my mouth feel dry and my eyes sting with tears. I was trying hard to catch my breath and calm my queasy stomach when my producer voice, always immune to hangovers, chimed in through the panic, loud and clear.

_Freak out with your brain, but use your hands to get ready for work._

I hurried over to my closet and slid it open, scanning back and forth for something casual and comfortable. I plucked out a cotton A-line dress and a bright cardigan, hoping the youthful colours would make me look lively and not half-dead with a hangover. I decided to skip the shower and rely on a clean change of clothes. Hovering in front of my closet mirror, I raked my hair and pulled it up into a ponytail, tousling the front of my hairline until all my bangs escaped the updo and lay nicely against my forehead. 

_It still looks a bit messy, but that’s the trend right now, isn’t it?_ I thought hopefully.

After stepping into a pair of sensible shoes, I took a slow, deep breath and opened my door, leaning forward to peek my head past the threshold. Minor was still sitting in the same spot on the floor; his face was no longer flushed with fright, but a deep shade of bashful pink. He was chewing on his lip anxiously, staring daggers at his phone, which he held close to his face while his thumbs fluttered desperately against the touchscreen. When he spotted me, he jumped to his feet and stuffed his phone in his back pocket.

“B-Boss! Good morning!” His voice trembled and broke. He put on a smile but it looked to me like someone was cutting his toes off one-by-one. Avoiding his eyes, I sighed impatiently, the quiet _huff_ of my exhalation made him flinch.

Despite my hangover, I stood up straight and made my voice bold and clear, visualising a strict drill sergeant. “This is what we’re gonna do.” I crossed the apartment to pick up my purse from where I had tossed it last night. “It’s still early, so I’m going to head into work first.” I brought my purse to the kitchen counter, double-checking that my spare phone charger was in there before striding toward the bathroom. “It’s not unusual for me to go in early. You’re going to wait here for ten or fifteen minutes, and then come to the office.” I flicked the light on and grabbed my toothbrush off its charger. “That way no one will figure out you were here last night. Obviously, I’m trusting you to keep your mouth shut.” I squeezed a bit too much toothpaste out of the tube because I’d been staring bullets at the faucet, trying not to look over at my guest. Pretending not to notice, I began scrubbing at my teeth with vigor and swung the bathroom door shut with my foot. 

Once I was certain Minor couldn’t see me, I squeezed my eyes shut and let my face break into an extreme blush while I tried to brush my teeth. I went full panic mode internally, just as my producer voice had ordered, and used my hands to continue washing up. 

I tried to wrap my head around exactly what happened.

_What the HELL is wrong with me?!_

_Minor kissed me -- or I kissed Minor? No no no, Minor kissed me, and I kissed back? I didn’t kiss back! I didn’t push him away either… Oh no, I did kiss back, sort of. But he felt me up! And his… He had… He was ready to jump me! Shoot, I felt him up too, though, didn’t I? It’s just not fair, I thought he was Gavin! I really thought that he was Gavin? Why did I think that -- and how long did it take me to come to my senses? Minor is skinny, he’s got a smaller build than Gavin, so his arms are thinner, too..._

I shook my head sharply, bringing the buzzing thoughts to a halt, and psyched myself up to open the bathroom door while I finished washing up. I rinsed the sink and opened the door quietly, but at that moment I thought about my messy hair; I turned around to grab my perfume. I spritzed my hair lightly and combed out the ponytail with my fingers. When I lowered my arms, I saw in the reflection of the mirror that Minor was standing right behind me, leaning in from the doorway, reaching toward me.

“Uh, boss, someone tried to c --”

My reaction was instant panic. I whipped around with a yelp and hit him with a direct headshot. Two full sprays, because you always double tap your enemies. He got a face full of coconut hibiscus poison, backing out of the bathroom doorway, trying hard to speak past the sputtering.

“ _Ach - ugh_ , oh God, it got in my mouth - _it’s in my mouth!_ ” He doubled over, eyes squeezed shut, holding onto his knees and tried to cough it out. 

I felt bad for almost killing him, so I heaved a big sigh and stepped out of the bathroom. “You probably shouldn’t be sneaking up on me like that. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he wheezed and straightened up, holding out my cell phone. “I just - I brought your ph -- _ach!_ ”

“Oh… thank you,” I met his eyes, just for the moment it took me to say those curt words of consolation, wrapped tightly in a forced calm. I took my phone from him and fortified my tone to complete the briefing. “There’s a bunch of extra toothbrushes under the sink, go ahead and open one. Don’t ask, they were on sale.” I slipped past him and grabbed my purse off the counter. I hurried to the living room to scoop up my coat off the floor and turned on my heel toward the door. “Try and clean yourself up - it’s okay if you’re a few minutes late, but don’t give the office any reason to ask questions.” Halfway out the door, I leaned back in and pointed at the inside doorknob. “If you turn this little lock on the knob, it’ll lock the door from the inside when you leave.” 

“Uh, okay,” he said in a strained, timid voice.

“See you in a bit,” I said to the floor.

I dashed into the hall and headed straight for the stairs. No time to wait for the elevator. 

At the bottom of the stairs, I peeked at my phone to check the time. Including the time it takes to walk to the office, I was still about a half-hour earlier than usual. _I’ll probably beat the postman!_ I thought with a smile. I hurried across the lobby, pushed open the door and was met with the ruthless offense of bright sunlight. I groaned, squinting my miserable eyes as I ducked my head to rummage in my purse for some sunglasses.

> ###  _Fifteen minutes later, across the street, a tall young man stood waiting at a crosswalk, shifting his weight anxiously between his feet._
> 
> ###  _H_ _is shoulders were tense, his amber eyes were weary, but they harboured a small glow of anticipation_

Thankfully, it was shaping up to be a temperate spring day. Gavin appreciated mild and pleasant weather as someone who spent a lot of his time close to the stratosphere. Although, he was running on less than three hours of sleep, he knew he had to go see her as soon as she could afford a minute to see him.

He just got back into town last night, after being out in the field for 8 days. In the privacy of his thoughts, he readily accepted that he had missed her considerably. Classified mission dossiers always made him feel slightly disappointed whenever he received them, because classified field work meant no outgoing communication. He couldn’t call her, or even send her a text. No way to check on her, not even to check her location. 

Stressful as that was, he was on his way to see her now. Whether he was going to reassure the girl or himself, he didn’t know, and hardly cared. Gavin didn’t worry about that sort of thing. He crossed the road and continued his walk to the girl’s office. He was coming up on her apartment building, having planned his route so he may run into her at her building on her way out. That plan was scrapped, though, because his pace was a bit slower today from fatigue, and the walk took longer than usual. He settled to keep walking straight to her office and passed by the front door of her apartment building just as the lobby door was opening, someone emerging in a hurry and taking the short set of stairs in one jump. The slender, boyish-looking man landed just a couple of yards in front of Gavin and would have kept running if they hadn’t happened to make eye contact. 

“G-Gavin, hey bro, you’re ba --” Minor began to say with a huge, nervous smile on his face. Gavin cut him off easily in a cool voice.

“You heading to work?” asked Gavin, eyes flitting to the building behind Minor and then back to his pale, anxious face.

“Uhh, yeah, I’m running kinda late,” Minor began again, too slow, and Gavin cut him off again.

“I’ll go with you,” he declared, showing his good friend a smile that failed to reach his eyes, which had turned dark and impatient. “I’m heading over there myself, to see _your boss_.” 

Gavin clapped Minor’s shoulder, a friendly gesture delivered with a chilling excess of force. Clearly, he knew exactly how frightening he could be, even in civilian clothes without a gun on his hip. The sudden strike sent Minor stumbling forward and directly into stride beside Gavin. They walked down the sidewalk, and Minor solemnly accepted that this may be his last day on Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, we'll be POVing with Gavin!   
> Please forgive me for putting lil Minor's life on the line once again. I really do love him, I swear!! ;;;;
> 
> _kussens!  
>  ~~ LUTZ_


	4. See You Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [THOTS of MLQC - 18+ Fanworks Discord Comm]  
> [bae-ta & guardian Engel: skieefly]

“Thanks for the lift,” said Gavin in a tired but friendly tone.

“Don’t mention it, Captain,” his partner nodded, his voice just as fatigued. “You’ll have the report in a couple days.”

Gavin climbed out of the car as his partner waved a hand in farewell. Swinging his door shut, Gavin waved back as the car pulled away from the curb and drove off down the empty road. He sighed then, the week prior weighing heavily on his body. The mission ended with a three-day stakeout, during which he probably slept for a combined six hours. He was definitely accustomed to the field work at this point, and it certainly wasn't anything to complain about - _work is work -_ but that girl could always tell when he was tired and suggest he get some rest when he would much rather be with her. If she would just agree to be his girlfriend, they could wake up together more often and rest together as well, but that just wasn't in the cards for them. She had made that clear to Gavin on more than one occasion, and he wanted nothing more than to respect her boundaries. Surfacing from his thoughts, Gavin turned his back on the quiet street and headed into his apartment building. 

When he opened the door to his studio apartment it immediately felt stuffy, evidence of eight days with no air circulation. He locked his door behind him and began to dress down, tossing his phone onto his bed after checking the time. _2:30am_ . _Not bad,_ he thought, _if I sleep in a bit I'll still get a full night's rest._ But imagining himself sleeping in wasn't easy. Gavin slid the window open after crossing the room and leaned his elbows on the sill. The air felt empty and null, at least to him, which wasn't a surprise because the person he was searching for was probably already at home in bed. 

But suddenly she wasn't. 

The wind was barely moving tonight but Gavin was certain that she had just stepped outside. He closed his eyes to concentrate on the breeze. 

_Where are you…?_

He steeled himself against the familiar anxiety that came with looking for her and felt that she was moving; by his estimate she was a few blocks away from home, apparently at walking speed. He frowned. _Why wouldn't you call a cab?_ That was all the justification he needed to do very thing he was not supposed to do anymore; he turned and went back to his bed, sat down and turned on his phone. He tapped into an application. It opened a map that, after a few seconds, centered on the area of Loveland city where his apartment was. He dragged the map around with his thumb, eyes flitting across the screen rapidly until a small blue ring slid onto his map. Double tapping on the blue ring zoomed in on the map and enlarged the ring until a pulsing blue dot was slowing crawling along within the lines that represented the streets. She was walking alright, and he happened to know from prior self-indulgent moments that the street her location pin was moving along led straight to her building. She was still six or seven blocks away. 

Gavin sat up straight and looked over at the window. He was seriously considering leaving right now and taking to the sky to meet her and see her home safely. 

_Wait,_ he argued with himself, _that could really put her off. She would never forgive me if I broke my promise - especially if I showed up suddenly without talking to her first._

" _Ugh._ " Frustrated, he grunted and stood up, still holding his phone. He resumed changing out of his work clothes, keeping his phone close the whole time. He peeked at the blinking pin, tapping the screen every few minutes to keep it from turning off. After ten minutes he was ready for bed, and used his free hand to toss the duvet aside and move his pillow to the appropriate angle, still keeping his eyes unfailingly fixed on his phone. Even after climbing into bed and falling back against his pillow, he watched her pin move slowly up the street, just a block from her building. Relieved that he managed to resist chasing her down, he settled to at least see her home this way. Fighting to keep his eyes open for the next fifteen minutes, he watched her pin finally slide into the square that represented the building where she lived. She was home safe, and Gavin could finally exhale. 

He surprised himself again by just how stressed he could make himself by worrying about what might or might not happen to her. His eyes fluttered closed, he couldn't stay awake. The phone in his hand turned off, and the room went dark, a quiet breeze sweeping into the room from the open window. 

Gavin woke from a dreamless sleep, the only evidence of the time that passed was the sunshine throwing bright light and warmth across the flat. He could see specs of dust floating through the air, illuminated by the daylight. _It got real dusty in here in just a week,_ he thought. Feeling around in his bed covers he found his phone; the battery was half-dead and the time read _7:03am._ He lay there on his back for a moment before rolling over to get out of bed. Even though he'd decided last night that he'd sleep in, he knew very well that he couldn't stand to sleep much past dawn. 

Gavin yawned, scratched his head, and plugged his phone into its charger on the nightstand. Feeling like he hardly slept at all, he ambled to the bathroom for a shower and decided today was a good day to go for a walk and skip the gym. 

> ###  _Later that morning, a visibly exhausted young woman sat slouching at her desk, her hand over her eyes, peeking between her fingers to log into her work computer._
> 
> ###  _She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and cradled her aching head in her hands, wondering aloud if anyone would notice if she put her sunglasses back on._

There was really no reason for me to hide. Last night was definitely not the first time the office crew had been wasted at Pete’s on a work night. I had even been greeted upon my arrival with cheers and sympathetic pats on my shoulder, and Willow brought me a pair of headache pills with a cheeky grin on her face. In our office, sometimes we were stuck in the fast lane for weeks without knowing when our downtime would come again. It was all about those winning numbers, and riding the unpredictable currents of daytime television ratings. 

Though I knew there was no judgement in my workplace for a hangover, I still felt shame weighing on me as heavily as the fatigue and discomfort. I just couldn’t get what happened out of my head. _Do I have feelings for Minor? Absolutely not. Does Minor have feelings for me? Probably not. I hope not. So what am I so afraid of? Why am I so ashamed about an honest misunderstanding between two single adults? Did I cheat on anyone? No. Not really, I suppose._

_Well, actually… I just don’t know._

My racing thoughts slowed to their miserable dead-end conclusion just as I heard a few cheers across the office. My stomach stirred with nerves when I turned to see that Minor had arrived, right on time for work. Immediately after that, my poor stomach did a triple backflip when I saw who walked in right behind him, and why Minor had no colour in his face and no hope in his eyes. 

It was Gavin. 

The guys were already on their way to my desk when I shot up from my chair. The awkward feeling was definitely still there, but it was accompanied and almost overcome by a rush of joy when I saw Gavin’s face. I hurried over to him and tucked myself into his chest, stealing a hug for myself. He was always careful not to be overly affectionate at my studio, but he could tell how much I had missed him and he wrapped his arms around me. 

“ _Gavin!_ ” I pressed my cheek against his chest, “When did you get back?”

“Last night, pretty late,” he spoke with warmth in his voice but it also sounded weary, “I would have texted you, but I figured you were already sleeping.” 

My heart skipped a beat and I giggled to keep my cool. “You know I’m a heavy sleeper, and waking up to a message from you is always nice,” I said as I let go of him and leaned against my desk. “You look so tired - what made you come all the way over here this early in the morning?”

Gavin smirked and gave me one of his looks, the one that said _‘You’re adorable, but you’re not gonna make me say it.’_

“I-I’m gonna…” Minor spoke in a tiny voice. He had taken a couple of side-steps away from Gavin, and he pointed to the other side of the office vaguely. 

“Sure. Good to see you, man,” Gavin turned, looked down at Minor’s nervous face and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze; it must have been painful, judging by the wince that flitted across his face. I was glad I couldn’t see clearly what Gavin’s expression looked like. 

I watched Minor scurry away to the other side of the room where some of the team had gathered around the coffee maker. Safety in numbers, I guess. I raced to change the subject but Gavin spoke first, returning his gaze to me. “I’m assuming from the half-dead look in your eyes that you didn’t sleep well, either.” He said to me, his voice gentle again. “I’m glad I didn’t wake you up.”

Oh no, here it is. I knew when he was giving me an out. This was my last checkpoint to come clean before the interrogation began. Why I still try to tell fibs to this man, I do not know. 

“Well, o-okay, you got me,” I rolled my eyes playfully, “We all went to Pete’s yesterday after work - rough day, you know me,” I rambled, trying to include some laughter in my confession, “I got home from the bar kinda late, but I still got a decent amount of sleep! I’m just a bit hungover.” 

Gavin’s poker face was steeled as he listened to me prattle about last night. When I fell silent, he searched my face for a moment. He looked away, responding with a tight-lipped _‘Hmm.’_ My heart sank when he let out a deep sigh. “Y’know,” he began, clearly trying to keep his voice from showing his discontent, “No offense, but getting plastered and being out alone at night is a dangerous habit. In a condition like that…” he paused for a second, and looked her in the eyes again. His voice dropped. “Just about anyone could take advantage of you - even hurt you.”

I was surprised that my spirits could sink so much lower than they already were. My headache was on its way back. I looked away and blinked hard, “Gavin, please, not this again, I --”

He took my elbow gently and took a step toward me. “Are you busy after work?” He asked me softly.

“No, actually,” I replied, his kind voice snapping me out of my pout, “it’s an early day for me ‘cause we’ve got a team going field scouting today.”

“Perfect. I’m off today, so call me when you’re done here, and I’ll come pick you up.”

I looked up at his face again, and I didn’t know what to say. What does he think he knows?

“Is… that okay? I haven’t seen you all week.” He looked sheepish and a little disappointed.

“Oh,” I snapped out of it and put my hand over his on my arm, “Of course - yeah! I’ll call you later then.” I was all smiles and genuinely excited for later. 

Gavin must have felt the same way, because I got treated then to his gorgeous smile. He patted my hair tenderly. “Great, see you then.” We smiled at each other and he gave me a wink before he turned and headed toward the door. I sat back down in my desk chair, but stared at Gavin’s back as he left the office; half from adoration and half to check on Minor, who was across the room, but closer to the doorway. When Gavin disappeared out the door, I let out a sigh of relief and turned back toward my desk. 

“Hey - Minor,” Gavin’s voice called casually. I turned back around to see him standing in the doorway, one foot in the hallway. He had a frown and a stone-cold stare pointed right at Minor, who flinched visibly. 

“ _Ahh_ \-- yeah, bro?, w-what’s up?” Minor held perfectly still while Gavin watched him for a moment, never blinking. Again, he flinched when Gavin answered.

“New perfume?” 

My stomach did another turn, this time it made me nauseous. I whipped my head to look at Minor, and I swear I could see his immortal soul about to leave his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who have reached out with your kind words of encouragement, you have my endless thanks. I'm all fired up to make this work a heart-wrenching, gut-busting success!!  
> Also I apologize for ending another chapter making it look like lil Minor is going to die.  
> Next chapter, we'll get back together with the two trouble makers and see how they plan to get out of this alive!  
>   
>  _kussens!_  
>  ~~ LUTZ


	5. You Win This Round

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [THOTS of MLQC ~18+ Fanworks Discord Community~]  
> [guardian Engel & best bae-ta: skieefly]

The office seemed to freeze for a moment while Gavin's footsteps echoed down the hallway and the elevator doors dinged. After that, the only ones who were still silent were Minor and myself. I stared at him until the crowd resumed their day, and waited until he met my eyes. The poor thing looked desperate and hopeless again when I gestured with my chin toward the breakroom. He strode carefully across the office and disappeared into the room, my eyes following him sternly until he was out of sight. I peeked over at my team; they were back to chattering between their desks as if that weird confrontation had never happened. I got up slowly from my desk and strode casually toward the break room; on the way over I picked up a TV Guide catalogue from an organizer on the wall. 

When I slipped into the breakroom, Minor was standing barely a meter from the door. I would have been annoyed if I hadn’t already rolled up the TV Guide to swat angrily at him, whacking him in his ear.

“Wha -- _oww!”_ Minor whimpered. He ducked his head and tried to dodge weakly while I continued to hammer on him. 

“ _Why - did - you - bring - Gavin - here - with you_?!” I hissed angrily between swats to his shoulders and forearms, which were shielding his face.

“ _C’mon --_ I didn’t! He ran into me on the way here - he said he was coming to see you --” 

“How close were you to my place when he saw you?!” I halted my attack and whispered. 

He was silent for a long moment.

“Minor, I swear, I’ll --” I began to growl.

“I was just leaving your building, I think he came to pick you up!” He replied quickly, cutting off my threat mid-sentence. I sighed heavily and tossed the TV Guide onto the counter beside me; Minor flinched like he was about to get hit again, but stood up straight once I had disarmed myself.

“Boss, I swear, I washed my face twice,” Minor explained with his hands held up in front of him, “I can’t even imagine how he noticed something like that.”

“I guess that’s on me,” I muttered, “I can actually kinda smell it from here - I must’ve got your shirt.” I frowned at the floor. Gavin had been fed enough clues at this point to justify assuming the worst for himself. I knew for sure what he must think about what happened; or, rather, what _he thinks_ happened. 

“That’s really… kinda romantic, that he knows your perfume from memory,” Minor smiled timidly. I leaned against the counter with my arms folded across my chest and closed my eyes; I could feel a blush creeping up on my face as I spoke through my teeth. 

"Why did you start... kissing me, anyway?" 

"Honestly," Minor muttered, "I woke up holding a hot girl who smelled like spicy barbeque... I kinda thought I was dreaming."

" _Ugh!_ Those are the gross kinda dreams guys have?! You just wake up 'ready for action,’ huh?!" My voice dipped low and shook; recalling those sensations was beyond embarrassing, and I wished I were still holding my catalogue baton. I stared daggers into my shoes.

“But you must have been dreaming too, Boss,” he murmured indignantly, moving to lean on the counter next to me, but not too close.

“Excuse me?” I glared up at him.

“I-I mean - Uh, with all due respect - I think I stopped, like, a-as _soon_ as you told me to stop, so --”

“What exactly are you saying, Minor?” I said slowly, suddenly furious.

“L-Listen! I think we both --” 

I reached for the catalogue but Minor was standing in front of it, and as he saw me whip around for it he snatched it off the counter and escaped past me to the door.

“ _I’m sorry, okay_?!” He whispered frantically and zoomed out of the room, knowing I couldn’t pursue him past the doorway. I heaved a big sigh and massaged my forehead. The whole situation was so irritating, I felt like all I needed was something to kick, or someone to blame… Besides myself.

###  _Saturday night at Pete's Bar, my team and I were celebrating a full 'three crown' rating on our last primetime release._

_Everyone was having a blast; we found a big table and were working together on a beer pitcher and a bottle of wine. Gavin had left earlier that week, and I was feeling rather melancholy. I was sad because he was gone doing potentially dangerous field work, but I couldn't help feeling a bit wistful because when he came over that day to say goodbye, he kissed me on the lips. Our third kiss in the month it had been since he confessed his feelings to me. He probably did it to ease my anxiety, and it worked, but the effect didn't last. I tried not to look at my phone too often. He told me he would text me as soon as he could, but I knew that once in a while he’d end up on an assignment that didn’t allow him any opportunity to do so. Remembering that, I tried not to get my hopes up. I sipped my wine from a highball glass and chewed absentmindedly at my bottom lip, trying to banish the tingling that occurred every time I remembered Gavin’s kiss._

_Personally, I don’t think I was drinking that much, and I was only drinking wine. But I noticed at a point that Minor’s eyes started to follow my glass. He would duck out of the conversation to come over and point in my glass, claiming he saw a bug, along with some other silly excuses, before downing it himself. As I watched Minor continue to swipe my drinks after I’d barely started them, getting increasingly drunk with every stolen glass of red wine, I could suddenly see right through him. It was hardly a coincidence that not long after Gavin left town for a week, his squire was keeping an extra close eye on his damsel. It might have been the wine heating me up, or my already-sore nerves from missing Gavin, but it made me so angry. Wasn’t it the norm for Gavin to tell me ‘be safe’ every single time we parted? It had started to feel like those words had a double meaning: ‘try not to die, dumbass.’_

_By the end of the night Willow was holding Minor up in his seat, and I threw back the rest of my drink while she called him a cab. At that point I was already plotting my revenge._

###  _Four days later, on Wednesday night…_

“Well, that’s everybody,” Minor drummed his hands on his lap after throwing back his last sip of beer. 

“There’s still --” I began, and looked around the large table we were sitting at; all of the chairs were empty now except for ours. In my effort to outdrink Minor, I was somehow tipsy enough to not notice four people leaving my table at some point. “Where’d Swift and Willow go? Weren’t they going to get drinks?”

“Uh, no - they were settling their tabs. I think they needed to catch the last train.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not _that_ late!” I picked up my phone and peeked at the time; _12:43am._ Apparently, it was now Thursday. I blew out a loud sigh, not ready to give up just yet. “ _Well,_ guess your job’s done for tonight!” I feigned. 

“Huh -- What d’you mean?” Minor asked, leaning in to make sure he heard me correctly over the music.

“You know what I mean,” I teased and rolled my eyes, “Saturday. You were playing babysitter by trying to cut me off all night.”

“You were getting really drunk!”

“I had as much to drink as everyone else did,” I snapped, “Possibly less.”

“Yeah but Gavin told me that you’re a lightweight, so--,” said Minor before he saw my expression and realized what he had just blurted out. “I mean...”

“So that’s how it is?” I slipped out of my seat and hooked my arm under Minor’s, dragging him over to the bar. I hopped up into a stool and waved at the bartender. “Can we get a round of kamikazes, please?”

He glanced at me and nodded, reaching under his bar to get the drinks started. I turned to Minor, who had taken the stool next to me. He looked confused and alarmed.

“Aren’t you getting tired? We have work in the morning…”

“Well, you don’t have to stay if you’re tired, I’ll be fine here,” I said matter-of-factly, knowing perfectly well that I had cornered him. Should he tap out and leave, I would be all alone and drunk, he would be dubbed the worst babysitter ever, and Gavin would never trust him again. 

“I can stick around,” said Minor, his voice showing certainty and his face showing doubt.

“If you can beat me in a game of ‘Higher or Lower,’ I’ll agree to call it a night. And I’ll tell Gavin you were the greatest bodyguard I’ve ever had.”

Minor blinked at me and squinted. “And what if you win?” 

I squinted right back. “I’ll tell everyone at the office about that time in first year when you broke your nose because you walked into the classroom door.”

Minor’s mouth fell agape as our bartender lined up in front of us six tall shot glasses filled with bright blue liquor. 

“ _Oh!_ ” I smiled sweetly at the barkeep, “and does Pete still keep cards behind the counter?” 

The bartender and I had a chuckle at Minor’s expression as a deck of cards was slid down the counter toward us. 

Almost two hours later, Minor and I were stumbling out of Pete’s bar, trying to catch our breath and bearings, laughing and holding onto each other outside.

“I had,” Minor groaned, “ _so much blue stuff_.”

I snapped back suddenly to the present, standing alone in the breakroom with my soul-crushing hangover. I had been certain this morning that I couldn’t possibly feel any worse, but after recalling last weekend and then Wednesday night, guilt started to crush me even harder than the dehydration and embarrassment. Minor was hungover, embarrassed to death, and in big trouble with Gavin, and it was all because of me. 

> ###  _It was a despicable idea, but the possibility of his hunch being correct was, by far, the most despicable thing._

Gavin strolled down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets; the gears in his head already moving behind his steely poker face. The suspicion he felt burned and itched like a mosquito bite, and at the moment, it was all he could do to refrain from visualizing himself taking out Minor like he was a defenseless insect. Gavin knew for certain that girl was far too trusting for her own good, and he knew also that his younger friend couldn’t hold his booze, and frequently made stupid choices. All the clues were there; as a trained police officer Gavin had plenty of experience reading a room, and knew very well what a perp’s face does when they know they’re guilty. _If they have nothing to hide,_ he thought, _then they wouldn’t have looked so nervous._

Before he could help it, he was already completely engaged in the investigation in his head. Both her and Minor looked like they shared a killer hangover, and they were both avoiding eye contact with each other. Minor’s clothes had looked wrinkled, like he’d slept in them, and if that wasn’t evidence enough, the smoking gun in Minor’s hand was the trace of her perfume on his clothes. Gavin’s jaw flexed and he tried not to think about how that fragrance got transferred between them. 

It could’ve been nothing, totally innocent, possibly even funny. But if that were the case, wouldn’t Minor have come forward right away? It wasn’t like Minor to keep secrets from Gavin; he was actually something of a chatterbox and an ‘over-sharer’. Minor was also a close friend. As irritating as his company could be, he was the closest thing to a friend that Gavin had since coming back to Loveland and joining the force. Among other dynamics, there was trust between them; Minor couldn’t always be relied on for his execution, but he was a decent kid. 

_That kid took your absence as an opportunity to make a move on her,_ he thought bitterly, grinding his teeth for a moment. 

Gavin hadn’t decided what to do with the rest of the morning, but he soon realized that his feet had already taken him exactly where he needed to be. After some time, he had stopped at the familiar building where her apartment was. He glanced upward. He knew which windows were hers, and one of them was close enough to the corner of the building that he could easily stay unseen if he needed to take a peek inside, something he’d done more than once already. Soon after she found out, however, she made him promise he wouldn’t do it again, unless there was an emergency, and this peaceful Thursday morning was definitely not an emergency.

He remained standing still in front of the building for several minutes to argue with himself in his head. 

_Maybe I can compromise. I did last night; somehow I didn’t end up following her home even though she was out in the middle of the night. I guess she wasn’t alone after all, though._ He tapped his foot restlessly against the pavement and tried to focus on the situation in front of him. 

_Okay,_ he resolved, _two minutes. I’ll do a quick sweep from the window -- A hundred-and-twenty seconds -- and that’s it! Then I’ve gotta leave it alone... Alright, let’s go._

Checking his surroundings first, he slipped into the alley beside her building and swiftly took cover against the wall. With one more shoulder check, he placed a hand on the wall behind him to steady himself, and took off at a run across the alley, jumped, and made contact with the wall in front of him with his right foot. As he turned himself in the air he methodically pulled a strong gust of wind to support himself. As simple as that, he was hovering at least ten feet above the ground. Keeping his focus on the wind he summoned, he lifted himself up and counted the windowsills until he was right next to hers. Gavin took a deep breath and steadied his altitude before leaning around the corner to grab onto her windowsill. Carefully, he pulled himself up to the window, cupped his hand against the glass pane, and peered inside.

From the window he could see right into her living room, and with a shift in his angle, he could see across the rest of the apartment all the way to the front door. Gavin was scanning quickly, fully intent on keeping his sweep of the crime scene from going on any longer than two minutes. He craned his head and spotted a few things on the living floor between the couch and the coffee table; a pillow, a large bunched up quilt, three open bags of potato chips that had apparently been spilt and scattered on the surrounding carpet. It would be enough just to confirm Minor was here last night, but from what he could see, there was no definitive proof. 

“ _Ugh,”_ he made a frustrated sound and swung back around the corner with his back to the wall. Slowly, he lowered his altitude, sticking close to the wall until his sneakers met the ground. Still hidden from the street, he slumped against the wall and glared at the other side of the alley. His personal ‘investigation’ had not cleared up a single thing, and only made him more upset. Only then did Gavin realize that, even before this mysterious incident occurred, the situation between her and himself, though definitely not simple, was certain. She had talked so openly with him about it; it was a conversation he thought back on very often. They both had agreed that a committed relationship would not work for them. He had told her about his feelings for her, and she had told him that they were mutual, but it just couldn’t happen for them.

_So,_ he thought, _technically I have no right to be angry. I’m not her boyfriend. I’m just someone who wants to protect her… And someone who loves her. But she’s not mine, and I already promised I wouldn’t treat her like she was. And that's a promise I can't compromise on._

When the five minutes Gavin had allotted for himself to brood came to an end, he stood up straight and dusted off his shirt. He returned to the sunlit sidewalk and fell back into a stride. He just had to kill a few hours until he could see her, and she would soothe his stress just as she’d done every time she looked his way. Just as he’d promised her before, he knew that he just had to have faith and wait for the opportunity to ask her for the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who were waiting, I apologize. This chapter rly kicked my ass -- believe it or not, I don't _enjoy_ hurting Gavin this way;;; I really don't! Just how complicated is it, lovebirds?!  
> Don't play around with me so much, or I'll be working for weeks between each chapter!! ;; 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for sticking around with us!  
>  _kussens!_  
>  ~~ LUTZ


	6. Should You Need Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [THOTS of MLQC ~18+ Fanworks Discord Community~]  
> [guardian Engel & best bae-ta: skieefly]  
> i can hear hox crying literally right miaow on voice chat, lol hi hox [kuss]

After fuming for a few minutes in the breakroom, I went back to my desk. I just had to make it until one o’clock, four hours without throwing up, and then I could go somewhere with no fluorescent lights or computer screens. Of course, that also meant I had just four hours to get my story straight before I met up with Gavin.

_ So he knows that Minor was at my place last night - that can’t be hidden at this point. Although, that was also something he could easily find out anyway, using his own resources. Spotting Minor leaving for work this morning was enough to get him in a bad mood, so it’s pretty likely that he doesn’t even know what happened before I left for work myself... It’s not so scandalous an idea to tell him that Minor crashed on my couch, is it? I definitely didn’t want the office to know, but Gavin likes to keep tabs on me like that, so he would be happy to know someone saw me home safely last night, right? After all, Gavin was the one who assigned Minor to my safety in the first place, right? _

Hammering away at my keyboard, I started firing off emails and confirming shoot dates. Once I had gotten used to squinting and taking frequent breaks, the time started passing by faster. Minor must have been avoiding me because I didn’t even see him again before one o’clock arrived and I signed out. I popped a couple more anti-inflammatories before I left my desk. 

I thumbed my phone awake and picked out Gavin’s number as I crossed the office to tell the girls I was leaving. Kiki, Willow, and Anna each hurried over to give me a quick hug and a ‘ _ Feel better!’ _ I waved and smiled at them on my way out the door. 

“Hey,” Gavin’s voice said brightly after the line rang twice.

“Hi, I’m just leaving the office - Where are you? I can come meet you.”

“No need, I’m downstairs,” it sounded like he was smiling. 

“Oh! Um, okay, see you in a sec.” I hung up quickly. Realizing that I would see Gavin again sooner rather than later made me blush, and not in a cute way. The blood rushing to my face made my head pound, so I rode the elevator down with my eyes shut. Even though Gavin seemed to be in a good mood, I suddenly felt as nervous as I had when he left the office this morning. I smoothed my hair and dusted off my dress, though I knew I was already far from being a vision of vitality, and I slipped on my sunglasses before hurrying out . 

When I saw Gavin waiting outside, he was literally a sight for sore eyes. He turned toward me and I could see his hands were full holding two take-out drinks. He grinned and chuckled when he saw me, and he offered me the cup that was more full.

“I hit that juice bar you showed me the other day, thought you could use a pick-me-up,” he was still smirking, “Nice shades.” 

“Thanks,” I forced a laugh and took the drink bashfully. “That was really thoughtful!”

“I don’t actually know what’s good for hangovers, so I just got what you ordered last time,” Gavin said just as shyly, somehow always unable to accept a 'thank you'. I searched his face for a moment, taking a sip from the plastic straw. He didn’t look angry, not even a little bit grumpy. Did he decide to brush it off? Did he forget? Or does he know exactly what happened this morning so he’s biding his time to properly plan the perfect murder?

I leaned on his free arm and held onto his elbow, cuddling close to his side so he wouldn’t see the look on my face. 

"S-So, where do you want to go...?" I asked him. 

"Wouldn't you rather I walk you home?" he responded, "You weren’t feeling well." 

Despite my piano-wire nerves, I looked up at him. I was disappointed. "Oh, but I was really looking forward to hanging out with you.” 

“I’m still gonna take you home,” he replied, looking hesitant at seeing the disappointment in my face.

“Well, maybe you could come over?” I asked shyly.

“ _ Uhm _ ... Are you sure?” he asked cautiously. 

His tone confused me and I wondered if Gavin remembered that while saying goodbye to me last week, he said he would stay over for a movie night sometime after he got back. Did that make him nervous? He was certainly hesitant, but before I could break the silence he took a step forward, pulling us both into a stride. 

“I don’t see why not!” He said cheerfully, sounding slightly strained.

That mysterious reaction made my nerves even worse and I watched my shoes on the sidewalk, sipping my smoothie pensively. Gavin must have seen me ducking my head. 

"Headache?" he asked. 

"Mmhm," I mumbled around my plastic straw, and I leaned my head on his bicep for a few steps. Not only was this man drop-dead gorgeous, he was also fluent in body language, so he took the hint easily and began telling me about a movie poster he saw on his way back from the smoothie bar. I watched his sneakers taking long strides to the right of my own feet and drifted off in thought. 

_ I wish I could pick his brain... Unfortunately for me, I think if he were really upset, he'd be able to hide it from me for sure. Gavin's got a serious poker face. What if he's mad at me right now? Is that why he doesn't want to come over?  _

_ I could be overthinking this… I don't think he would come over if he didn't want to. It's very possible that he let it go; either that, or he's going to come out and ask me at some point, or he's going to bottle it up inside and let it fester between us for the rest of our lives... _

"Hello, space cadet?" Gavin said softly, startling me out of my thoughts. 

"Huh?" I looked up at his face. His expression was curious and concerned, as he’d moved in front of me to stop me from walking into the street. We had reached the crosswalk that was less than 2 minutes from my building. I suddenly felt very guilty. I haven't been able to talk to Gavin in over a week, but I wasn't even listening to him for almost the whole walk home. The light changed and he led me along.

“Is it that bad? Your headache?” he asked, lowering his voice even more.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I was just spacing out a bit.”

“Oh, got a lot on your mind?” he asked in a certain tone that confused me. We were walking again, but he was watching me from the corner of his eye. I flushed under his gaze.

“Like what?” I quipped lightly, as we climbed the steps to my apartment building.He avoided answering by opening the large door to the lobby, tilting his head to gesture me inside. 

I touched the button for the elevator and stole a glance at him. He was jostling his smoothie cup, stirring the last bit of slush toward his straw. Gavin may be mysterious, but he doesn’t scheme or manipulate. If he really had his own ideas about what was going on, he would have just come out with it. It was silly of me to be picking him apart like he was the one with something to hide. He is a kind, honest man, and he cares about me. Just like I care about him. When we stepped into the elevator he noticed me staring at him, immediately looking sheepish. 

“What is it?” he muttered, lowering his head to look at the illuminated “5” on the elevator console. 

“I just missed you,” I said through a smile. I should have just started looking at him before we started walking, because it was making me feel better already. I watched the tips of his ears turn red, and he ruffled his hair nervously. 

_ Ding. _ The doors to the elevator opened again and I giggled, drifting out of the elevator ahead of him. I heard him sigh behind me as he caught up to me in two long strides; but the lightened mood that I had worked so hard to establish was suddenly shattered when we reached my door at the end of the short hallway. 

A pair of strappy, high-heeled shoes were lined up neatly against the threshold of my front door with a small memo balanced on them. I crouched down and snatched up the memo. 

> ###  **_I found these in the elevator and_ **
> 
> ###  **_t_** ** _hought you might be missing them!_**
> 
> ###  **_Call me later. -- L_ **

_ Oh, Lucien... Your timing is simply the worst. _

I laughed anxiously as memories of last night rushed at me. Minor must have dropped my shoes in the elevator at some point. I don’t even remember taking them off in the house. And Lucien - I had woken him up last night coming in with Minor, and I’m pretty sure he texted me about it, too. I looked back at his door, which was across the hall from mine. I told him I’d make it up to him, and I didn’t even text or call him this morning. 

I stuffed the memo in my purse and laughed anxiously while I felt around for my keyring. “I must have dropped those in the elevator - silly me!” 

I could see in my peripheral vision that Gavin was peering back at Lucien’s front door, and then down at the shoes on the floor in front of us, scooping them up for me. I fumbled unlocking the door, hoping that if I got us inside quickly he wouldn’t gather any more clues to interrogate me with. 

As if my life were a divine comedy, I opened my front door to a plethora of fresh clues for the good detective to dive into. My stomach sank when I saw the mess I’d left of my apartment before I headed out for work. I hurried into the living room to pick up the scattered bags of potato chips. 

“Sorry about the mess! I must have had a case of the munchies,” I forced out another laugh. I saw Gavin put my shoes from last night down under the coat rack, and there was almost no expression on his face. I was getting more nervous by the second, running around cleaning up the place, and I almost ran right into Gavin on my way to the kitchen. 

“Here,” he said, taking the bags from me. He brought them over to the kitchen counter and rolled each bag tightly closed, even though they probably went stale overnight. I went back to get the quilt and shook the crumbs out of it.  _ Man, _ I thought,  _ we were pretty messy… _ When I’d tossed the pillow and quilt in my room, I took a deep breath and went back to the living room. 

“Who’s ‘L’?” 

Gavin’s tone was careful and curious. I was just sitting down on my side of the couch when I heard him speak. My eyes widened when I saw the look on his face - it was his detective face. He took a seat on the opposite end of the three-seater, setting his empty take-out cup on the coffee table right next to mine. The sight of the two cups side-by-side, their drops of condensation glittering in the afternoon light, was so domestic and sweet, I would have commented on it if the interrogation hadn’t already begun.

"Well," I began casually, "You remember Professor Lucien, don’t you? He was a consultant on  _ Miracle Finder, _ and now he helps out at the studio every so often.”

“And he knows where you live?” Gavin frowned.

“Actually,” I was surprised that this was news to him, “He lives just across the hall - he’s my neighbour - has been for a couple of months.”

There was a heavy pause, and I curled up on the couch in a more comfortable position. I waited for further questions, but Gavin cleared his throat; apparently, I already told him what he needed to know. Either that, or he would take that separate investigation into his own hands at some point in the near future. The space between us became awkward.

“I see,” said Gavin, “So, you had a good time last night?”

“Oh - yeah, it was a pretty fun night,” I was surprised that he seemed to drop the inquiry, “But I was exhausted when I got home!”

“And you managed to eat two whole bags of chips on your own?” 

I laughed. “I like snacks! You know me.”

“No wonder you had such a bad hangover,” he shook his head at me, scolding me playfully. “I bet you didn’t drink any water before you went to bed.”

“I was feeling lazy, and I forgot!” 

“You didn’t forget your snacks,” he sounded like he was holding in laughter.

“You’re teasing me! In my own house!” I pretended to be insulted, turning my face away from him. When I heard him laugh, though, I couldn’t help but smile too. 

“Hey, come on,” his laughter softened his voice, and he draped his arm along the back of the couch, his fingertips almost right behind my neck. I turned to face him again, sitting up straight to keep from leaning on his hand.

“I can’t ask you about your mission, can I?” 

He pursed his lips and shook his head, still smiling. “But why don’t you tell me about  _ your  _ week?” 

While I filled him in on all the boring details of my work week, he bent down to grab the TV remote from under the coffee table - I wondered for a second how he even knew it was there - and he turned on the news channel on a low volume. Gavin always remembers just how I like things, and he knew that I like talking with noise in the background, so we chatted without paying attention to the TV while it provided us with ambient noise. I told him about the primetime rating last weekend, and how we got to enjoy some downtime this week because of it. When the conversation slowed, I yawned. 

Gavin looked at me curiously, “Didn’t sleep very well on the floor, did you?”

I tilted my head, perturbed. 

“There was a pillow and a blanket down there, you must’ve decided to sleep on the floor for some reason. Wasn’t that uncomfortable?” He went on, gazing pointedly at the floor as he spoke. His expression had turned inscrutable. All I knew for certain was that he was in his detective mind again, only now he was trying to approach it more casually. There was nothing left in his voice to suggest he was still playing around, though. I wondered if he had been biting down on those words the entire time since walking into my apartment. 

_ Oh my god. What do I say? What can I say? I’ve got nothing! I could blame it on feng shui, or maybe just say I don’t remember? Wait… Oh I’m so stupid! He didn’t even mention Minor, I can just say that I did actually sleep on the floor and he doesn’t have to know about -- _

“Was Minor here last night?” 

I must have been frozen in panic for too long and gave myself away. In a window of about twenty seconds, Gavin had cracked the case wide open. The lamp was turned on me and now it was just about getting that confession.

“What makes you say that?” I asked lackadaisically, hoping there was a chance I could still escape on a lie.

“I saw him leaving your building this morning.”

“Really? That’s so weird, cause I left early. But why were  _ you _ at my building this morning?” 

“Guess I was trying to run into you before work,” he said easily.  _ Damn, he’s good _ .

“Well maybe he was with someone last night who also lives here…?”

Gavin looked at me as though he were unencrypting my responses in his head. I tried to keep my cool, leaning into the couch and looking at him with a smile, but he blinked at me a couple more times, and I decided it wasn’t worth being held under the lamp any longer. I glanced at the TV screen.

“ _ Okay, _ ” I sighed, “is it fun for you to interrogate me like one of your perps?”

My joke sailed right past Gavin and I instantly regretted saying it when I saw his face. He suddenly looked like he was braced for the worst news of his life. He wasn’t looking at my eyes anymore, but at my shoulder, like he was afraid of what he’d see otherwise. He appeared so anxious and uncertain that he almost looked already hurt by this devastating bad news he hadn’t even gotten yet. Seeing his face like that made me move closer to him by instinct, wanting to comfort him, and I started jabbering.

“Oh, Gavin, I’m sorry - bad joke - Yes, Minor was here last night. He offered to walk me home after we left Pete’s because we both stayed so late, and I knew he was only there looking after me - I also know he takes the train home, and my place is in the opposite direction from the station so I told him to just crash here on the couch! But Gavin, nothing happened, we just --” 

I stopped to take a breath, but I couldn’t continue when I saw his expression change; he seemed to be thinking hard about something, and I wondered if he even heard anything I said. His lips pursed and he sighed out his nose. 

“I didn’t mean to pry,” he said dispiritedly, “and you don’t have to explain yourself for things like this. You shouldn’t have to, I mean. You weren’t in any danger, so that’s good enough for me. Anything else is none of my business.” 

“No, Minor and I aren’t like that - we’re coworkers.”

“Well, even if you were --”

“ _ But we’re not! _ ” I snapped.

I was still driven to mend the pain I saw flash behind his poker face. “Gavin…” but I didn’t know what to say to him. He’s not my boyfriend. I’m not his girlfriend, but I couldn’t stand to see him like that. I wanted to make it better. 

I must have moved closer to him again without realizing it, because he leaned back to look me in the eyes. His visage was guarded, and I feared I had made it worse. We were caught at an impasse - it looked like both of us knew what we wanted to say, but we were both wondering if it should even be said - so I decided first.

“Why did you kiss me like that before you left?” I broke the silence impulsively. Gavin snapped out of his gloom instantly, leaning further back like he was being accused.

“Huh?” 

“Before you left for your STF mission, when I was so worried that I started to cry. Did you just do it to make me feel better?”

“I…” Gavin stuttered, his brow twitching while a blush crept up on his face, “I don’t know, I just…Why, all of a sudden --” 

“You did it because you wanted to?”

“ _ Of course! _ ”

“Then you must have noticed that I was kissing you, too - because I wanted to.” I couldn’t figure out where this courage was coming from. All I knew for certain was that I wanted him to know how I felt. I had a gut feeling that he needed to be reminded. He watched me silently, looking anxious and skeptical. 

“I-If it made you uncomfortable, I won’t do it again, I promise.”

“It didn’t. It made me happy,” I responded quietly. He was silent again. “I care for you, Gavin, you must know that I do. I know things have become complicated between us in the past few weeks, but --”

“You really don’t need to explain,” he cut me off reluctantly, “I just got carried away in the moment. I’m sorry.”

Now I was the one feeling hurt. "Why are you sorry…?" I turned to look at the TV. He's sorry that he kissed me. He's regretting it now. 

Seemingly alarmed by the look on my face, Gavin swallowed and opened his mouth, but no words came from him. In the corner of my eye I could see he'd lifted his large hand toward me for a few moments, and dropped it back on his knee when I remained silent. I drew my knees up to my chest and sighed. It looked like I was the one making him uncomfortable now. It wasn't fair to him, the way I was reacting to that moment eight days ago. In his eyes, it meant much more to him than it did to me, but I was still sitting here grilling him about it as though I were the one doing the interrogation. I rejected his feelings, so I had no right to demand he explain them further. Gavin did nothing wrong, I was the one being shady here. 

"I should get going," said Gavin, who was also looking at the TV when I stole a glance at him. 

"Do you have to?" I asked, disappointed. 

"I've got some stuff to take care of before I go back into work tomorrow." I watched him stand and pick up his smoothie cup. His silhouette glowed gold against the sunlit window behind him. "Laundry, groceries and stuff." 

I don't think I had ever heard him use the phrase  _ 'and stuff' _ . I nodded and looked up at him. "Okay. Thanks for bringing me home today." 

"Anytime," his voice was warm when he leaned down to press his cheek against the top of my head, wrapping one arm around my shoulders for a quick hug. I turned to look over the back of the couch and watched him place his cup by the kitchen sink before heading for the door. 

"Bye, Gavin." 

He hesitated at the door and grinned at me, "Call me right away if you need anything, okay?" 

I nodded again, smiling back until he shut the door gently behind him. I let go of the smile and looked back at the coffee table. Though the light had shifted in the couple of hours since I got home, my almost-empty takeout cup still had some glittering droplets on it that hadn't fallen to the table and dried, but next to it, left behind, was a lone watery ring. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely not the pace at which I wanted to publish new chapters, but I got kinda sick and let stuff get in the way... It wasn't until I logged in RIGHT NOW to upload this chapter that I saw an armful of new comments?! From people I don't even previously recognize?! I just had a tiny cry! I'm so happy - I'm going to write from my heart, from now on, and not sit on chapters for weeks because I'm feeling insecure. All you kind ppl here with me reading my work have given me such a huge UMPH!! Here I go!!
> 
> _kussens!_  
>  ~~ LUTZ


	7. If It Were Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm embarrassed after having ended my last chapter with "I'M GONNA DO SO GOOD YOU GUYS YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE!" and then disappearing for 3 months.  
> No, I'm not going to make any more promises about chapter release dates and make myself look like a jackass.  
> Yes, I love you guys so much and I still wanna write this fic until its end (which I do have planned out in notes!!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[THOTS of MLQC ~18+ Fanworks Discord Community~]](https://discord.gg/sn45jhB)  
> [guardian Engel & best bae-ta: skieefly]  
> ((but i didn't bug her for this one lol))  
> ~~HEY! BIG CREDITS go to yunyu for helping me paint a decent picture of our favourite elusive professor. srsly, it was HARD to write him, he might be to blame for the hiatus;;;  
> THANK, YUNYU-LAOSHI!!!

Gavin's hand slid off the doorknob after a long pause. His eyes lingered on the door directly across the hall. Professor Lucien, head of the ongoing Evol-Stim research project that the SETF was currently keeping tabs on, was practically a next-door neighbour to this girl. It would be foolish, as an Evol agent, to write that up as a mere coincidence. Turning back toward her door once more, Gavin's eyes gave the threshold a calculating sweep. He made a rough estimate of the time and materials he'd need to set up a bug or a camera there, in a way no one would notice. When he headed for the elevator, the thought was pinned to Gavin's mental to-do list, right underneath finding Minor and having a talk with him. 

By the time he exited the building, Gavin's frustration caught up with him. How he'd longed to see her and just spend some time by her side, only for the atmosphere to get tense so suddenly. He was kicking himself for how poorly he handled that conversation. She had every right to know why he'd kissed her that evening, especially since they'd previously agreed they were going to try not to do things like that because it would further complicate things between them. It was a sorrowful memory for him, one tainted with regret. 

A few days after Gavin had confessed his feelings to her, they ended up at the planetarium together and, due to the events of the day, jealousy got the better of him. He lured her away from their group, and when they were alone, hidden from the crowd, he couldn't keep his hands off her. It was definitely an impulsive thing to do, and not very courteous, but he never expected he'd feel so possessive over her when he saw her with someone else. So Gavin stole her away from the light of day, kissed her like she was his, and after an initial reaction of disbelief, she had given into him completely. She parted her lips for him, her hands had roamed his upper body, she clutched at the collar of his shirt. She sighed against his ear when he started to kiss her neck, she stood on tip-toe just to get that one inch closer to him, and he held her tiny waist firmly against himself… 

Remembering how her small, slender body felt in his arms made his mouth dry. Though the memory itself was amazing, even dreamlike, he deeply regretted the action he'd taken and how it had led her to push him away suddenly and tell him sternly that they 'need to talk'. When they'd snuck out of the building and found a quiet spot in the corner of the parking lot, Gavin didn't know what he was expecting, but he was still surprised to see her get frustrated. In so many words, she told him that what just happened was irresponsible because she didn't want to lead him on. He took her home after that and they pretended it never happened. It was only the second time he'd ever kissed her, and he totally blew it. The kiss at the planetarium was definitely nothing like their first. 

Gavin suddenly noticed that he was almost home when he surfaced from his memories to wait at a crossing light. It seemed so ridiculous to him, thinking about her non-stop since he left - when he could have just stayed and been with her, in person, back at her place. He told himself there was no use fretting about it, but it was hard to fully shake the dismay before he arrived at his apartment. 

When he let himself in, the flat had aired out a decent amount. He could still see dust in the air, but it wasn't as much due to the window being open all morning. Even still, the gloomy mood Gavin had brought home with him seemed to compliment the stark lifelessness of his apartment. He sighed sharply, marched to his room to pack a gym bag and was back out the door barely ten minutes after he'd arrived. 

> ###  I'm standing in a living room, but it's not mine. The window is bigger. The room smells like warm grass. I'm watching the window frame intently, do I remember why? Oh, yes, I'm making sure the butterfly gets out alright. It's a gold butterfly, and it's big - a monarch. She's like a queen with an exquisite cape. She's trying to find the open window pane, she's bobbing against the glass, slowly getting to the edge. I step closer to the window, and the butterfly isn't moving anymore! What're you waiting for, little monarch? Can't you find the breeze coming in the window? " _It'll be alright_." A man's voice behind me. His long arm reaches over my shoulder and slides the window shut. The breeze stops. The butterfly is still, her wings fanning slowly, she's solemn. Who is he? His arm wears a sleeve in white. 

I woke with a start, lifting my head from the arm of my couch. I must have dozed off sometime after Gavin left, while I waited for a text-back from Lucien. I blinked the last of my sleep away and unlocked my phone. Lucien responded while I napped. 

> **[ Me: Hi Lucien, I got your note. Thanks for saving my shoes, lol ]**
> 
> **[ Me: Let me know when we can talk! ]**
> 
> **Lucien:** I'll be home in about a half hour. See you then.

The timestamp on his last SMS was over 40 minutes ago. As if on queue, there were three soft knocks on the door. 

“It’s open!” I called out, smoothing down my bangs and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The door opened and Lucien stepped inside. 

“Silly girl, how many times have I told you not to leave the door unlocked?” He chided, pressing the door shut behind him. I drowsily watched him slip off his jacket by the coat rack and I wondered, while my gaze lingered on his lithe frame, why I’d never heard his steps in the hall when I could always hear the other neighbours. Distracted, I missed my chance to answer him and lost track of how long I’d been staring. He came over to join me on the couch, dropping comfortably into his usual spot. “Especially while you’re having one of your cat naps,” he finished, turning to face me with a doting expression.

I yawned into my hand, mostly as an excuse to avert my eyes. “You worry too much.”

“Oh?” He grinned, “I got a text just last night from a little kitten saying it was ‘ _ the sweetest _ ,’” Lucien teased, laughter blooming slightly in his voice when I gasped in response. I felt a blush creep from my ears toward my nose. 

“That -- I -- I can explain that! It wasn’t me, it was --”

“ _ Minor? _ ” said Lucien, curious.

I blinked at him and remembered suddenly why I had asked Lucien over. “Oh, I’m really sorry about last night," I said guiltily, "I must have woken you up, and it was a work night.”

"I was still up," Lucien replied passively, "It sounds like you had fun, though. Won’t you tell me about it?" 

"I think I’m still trying to figure it out myself -- I feel like so much has happened in just a couple days! And this hangover certainly isn’t helping; when Gavin came to see me at work --” At the mention of his name I swallowed hard, “Actually, speaking of Gavin, he came back this morning."

"Oh?" Lucien anchored his elbow on the back of the couch, his chin propped against his knuckles. "Was it a happy reunion?" 

"No, not really..." I couldn't help letting my voice fade out to a murmur, disappointed by the memory of him rushing out the door. Even with little to no context, Lucien nodded, patiently waiting for me to elaborate.

I sighed again and recounted to him everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours - from getting wasted with Minor at the bar, up to Gavin leaving my apartment hurriedly just a few hours ago. When I managed to hash out the part about waking up with Minor that morning, I could see the corners of his mouth twist up and his chest flutter for a split-second as he appeared to be stifling a laugh. Otherwise, Lucien listened quietly the entire time, making wordless indications that he was following along. 

When I reached the end of my recital, Lucien inhaled deliberately and raised his brow as he finally spoke. 

“What a night, indeed,” said Lucien, “I’m surprised at him. Even for Officer Gavin, the reaction was a bit precipitous.” 

“I was surprised, too,” I said quietly, feeling more relaxed after going over everything that had happened, “I mean, I expected him to be put off, but to get so defensive -- It just seemed so unlike him.”

“Well, you could stand to be a bit more understanding,” Lucien replied, “He’s not very good at communicating, is he?” 

Though Lucien’s tone held no smugness or pretension, I still felt compelled to stick up for Gavin. “He probably felt cornered. I shouldn’t have started questioning him so suddenly.”

“If I may say so, shouldn’t Gavin have given you a chance to explain yourself first, if he’s really the one for you?” 

“‘The one’ for me?” I repeated, confused.

“Forgive me, I could have worded that differently,” he spoke with a brief grin while looking at me as though he were searching my expression, and in the silence between us he reached his hand toward me. It skimmed past my jaw, toward my ear, past my neck. Lucien caught the end of my ponytail gently and twirled my hair casually around his fingertip. 

“I can’t stand to see you so distressed,” he said, his voice much softer now that he was a few inches closer to me, “I’m sure Gavin is trying his best… However, if it were me,” he said, his gaze so easily holding mine, “I would only be concerned with understanding you better.”

Lucien paused for a moment while I blinked at him again, and he smiled at me airily. “All I would care about is your happiness.”

The professor was a good listener, a kind friend and a very soothing presence. There was tension between us when he first moved in across the hall, because I'd only spoken to him a few times, and with his devilish good looks and lazy smile, he could be very distracting. It took us a while to get as comfortable as we were presently, talking together on the sofa, but sometimes he still made me feel flustered. Such an elusive man, Lucien could be, but there were moments like these that he could look me right in the face and confront me with my own reflection, telling me exactly what I’m thinking. It felt like I could never keep a secret from him. It was the strangest feeling, hearing myself speaking to him before I’d decided to even open my mouth, but it happened often when I was around him.

I was trying to respond audibly when my phone buzzed on the armrest against my elbow. Startled out of my daze, I grabbed it immediately, thinking it might be Gavin. 

> **Minor:** Hey boss, it's Minor. idk if you have my number saved, lol… 
> 
> **Minor:** Anyway, how'd it go with Gavin? Is everything okay? 
> 
> **Minor:** I hope he's not upset with you… I can talk to him and tell him it was my fault. Is he still with you? Should I call him? 

Apparently Minor was a "triple-texter." The only other person I knew who did that was Kiro. I frowned at the message thread, having almost forgotten about Minor’s role in that wild twenty-four hours that had just passed.

"Is that Gavin?" Lucien asked, letting go of my hair and resting his hand on the couch behind me.

"No, it's Minor. He just wants to know what Gavin said." I locked my phone and shook my head. "This is all my fault, but Minor thinks it's his fault." 

“Why do you think you’re the one at fault?” 

"Because I’m the one who got Minor so drunk. Because I was mad at Gavin for hiring me a babysitter." I squirmed as I said it, feeling even more ashamed admitting it out loud and hearing it in words. I was surprised to hear Lucien chuckle beside me; he sat up and hooked a finger in the knot of his tie, tugging it loose just a bit.

“I think that once you communicate with each other and get it all out in the open, the situation will work itself out,” Lucien said candidly with a glance at his wristwatch, “If his feelings for you are as strong as he claims, I’m sure this will be resolved soon.” 

I sat up when he rose from his seat, “Are you leaving already?”

“Unfortunately, I have some work to do tonight. I just came by to check on you, since you texted me drunk last night and worried me so.” His voice was teasing again and he ruffled my bangs, playfully but gently. I stood and followed him over to his coat, which he took down and hung over his arm. 

“Thanks for coming by,” I said sheepishly after some hesitation. With his hand on the doorknob, Lucien paused and turned to look at me again.

“I only say this because I worry about you, but maybe you should take it easy with the alcohol for some time. You’re a little clumsy and reckless when you drink, which I find incredibly cute, but I’d hate to see you do something under the influence that you’ll regret in the future. It wouldn’t be the first time --”

I realized what he was about to say and although there was no one around to hear, I cut him off with a sharp and unintentionally scandalous gasp.

“ _ Lucien! _ ” 

He laughed, opened the door and stepped out, “I know, I know, we swore we wouldn’t mention it again. I apologize.” The expression on the professor’s face was apologetic, though he still had laughter in his eyes. “Have a good night,” he said, patting me atop my head affectionately before crossing the hall to his own apartment. I watched him cast a wink at me before he disappeared behind his door. 

By the time I returned my attention to my phone, I had a new batch of texts from Minor.

> **Minor:** I txted him a couple times but he hasn’t answered
> 
> **Minor:** Oh man I’m rly worried
> 
> **Minor:** I don’t want Gav to be mad at you cuz of me!! I spent like all of 9th grade tryna get you two together!!!
> 
> **Minor:** You were right in the breakroom today. imma big perv and I should have had my shit together better than that… I’m rly sorry, boss! I promise I’ll help you fix this with Gav!!

My heart sank with guilt as I read his stream of text messages over again. Minor was beating himself up for this morning, when all he did was go along with what I told him. My stupid, petty little scheme had backfired, and it wasn’t only me getting hit. I knew Minor didn’t deserve any of this and I felt awful. Staring at the screen, I couldn’t think of anything to say. I decided to keep it simple. 

###  **[ Minor, don’t worry about it for now. We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay? ]**

Tossing my phone back onto the couch, I felt a rumble in my stomach reminding me that I hadn’t eaten all day. I was already on my way to the kitchen when I heard my phone sound off again. 

“Oh my god, Minor,” I mumbled while opening the unread message, but when I read it I couldn’t help but smile.

> **Lucien:** Don't forget to eat something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've got a sec, go check out the headcanons dump I published as the "Part 2" of a series along with this work.  
> It's a fic companion, and might answer some questions, or might just be a quick laugh. You tell me.
> 
> If you're here with me still, after all this time, pls make yourself known so I can love and thank you;;;  
>  _kussens!_  
>  ~~ LUTZ


End file.
